CloudCraze Issues a New Release

Chicago-based B2B e-commerce vendor CloudCraze just announced the general availability of its Winter 2016 release.

Built natively on the Salesforce platform, it moves a step closer to what Shawn Belling, VP of Product Development at CloudCraze, described as the vendor’s vision of agile applications optimized for mobile-first services. Additions to the platform include invoicing, walleting, subscription management and contract pricing

CloudCraze has also expanded multi-account ordering, which provides options for such things as pricing and product availability.

Easing The B2B Pain

According to Belling, the new release addresses problems B2B e-commerce vendors face as they transform their organization into digital enterprises. That includes problems of speed-to-value and agility, defined as the ability to respond rapidly to changing market conditions.

It does this by enabling users to build and deploy mobile storefronts and scale out when needed.

In a single Salesforce instance, CloudCraze shares data and processes across e-commerce and customer relationship management applications that are managed through the point-and-click Salesforce interface

“Our starting position is that we will we do what we have to do to make our customers more agile. We see this as one of our value propositions, notably speed to value. CloudCraze can be implemented in eight weeks which means going from starting the deployment it to taking orders and generating revenues in eight weeks,” Belling said.

Areas of Focus

It's a strategy that is gaining traction, not just across the B2B technology space, but also with investors.

In August, CloudCraze secured an undisclosed investment form Aktion Partners. While the company did not specify the amount of funding, it noted that it would use the money us strengthen its market position and provide additional resources for new and existing clients. Those resources are what this release are all about.

They include:

Walleting: Citing a 2014 B2B Procurement Study by the Aquity Group, now Accenture Interactive, Belling pointed out that 26 percent of consumers abandon their online shopping carts because the checkout process took too long. Walleting addresses this by enabling the user to save a payment method during checkout, chosen from a pre-defined list. They can also add a variety of payment options, including credit cards and other online payment options such as PayPal. The idea, he said, is to make it easier to pay online.

“The B2C space has driven the adoption of walleting. It is the key to moving the checkout process forward more efficiently and keeping customers engaged and onsite,” Belling said.

Invoicing: B2B commerce requires the support of a myriad of payment and invoicing scenarios. The invoicing feature now offers a number of advanced options including some automation capabilities, and different kind of payment facilities.

Multi-Account Ordering: This feature drives dynamic pricing and product availability based on the account selected.

The new release also offers subscription management services as well as B2B contract pricing services.

What's Next

B2B e-commerce is a relatively small space at the moment. However, CloudCraze said three things are likely to change that: the rapidly-growing markets in omnichannel commerce, the increasing maturity of the Salesforce SaaS marketplace and a notable move towards B2B2C business.

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